ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



blow. His head sank on his breast, and the persons 

 who were present held their peace, awestruck in the 

 presence of his great sorrow. Then he lifted his 

 head slowly and stood erect before them all. 



" My grief is hard to bear," he said, " because I 

 loved him too well. Yet, dearly as I loved him, I 

 knew that he must die some day ; and God, who 

 knows best, has called him for his eternal welfare. 

 Farewell, then ; since it is His will, farewell for ever, 

 my most dear Lorenzo ! " After this one passionate 

 cry he recovered ;his usual serenity, and gave orders 

 that his son's corpse should be borne to Florence to 

 receive the last honours, 



On the yth of April 1354 a splendid train of 

 knights and squires, with flying banners and shields 

 blazoned with the Acciaiuoli arms a silver lion ram- 

 pant on an azure field issued from the Porta San 

 Pier Gattolini, now the Porta Romana, followed 

 by the noblest citizens of Florence. In the midst, 

 on a bier hung with crimson velvet and cloth of gold, 

 under a canopy of embroidered silk, the body of the 

 young hero was borne in state, surrounded by horse- 

 men in rich attire carrying lighted torches. So the 

 procession passed along Val d'Ema and wound its 

 way up the steep hillside to the gates of the Certosa, 

 where, in the newly erected chapel of St. Tobias, 



chosen by Niccolo as the place of his own sepul- 



214 



